Many of us don not realize that the University—the institution, that is—was developed alongside the Hospital, the Insane Asylum and the Prison, as part of nation-building processes across the Americas, during the 18th and 19th centuries. 这些机构共同提供了一种将人口划分为不同类别的方式，以满足一个在日益参与全球交易的同时努力发展经济的社会的需要。 So, if the hospital provided a house for our sick, and the prison a reformatory for our criminals—for those who misstepped, who acted out of place; 精神病院和医院一起孤立了病人，而大学则培养了天才和知识分子，是一个成长和学习的地方，但只有有能力的身体和心灵。 今天，这些机构仍然紧密地联系在一起，形成了塑造我们社会的许多价值观。 It is no coincidence that social and political models of power and success are imagined around our community’s education level, our forward thinking and our ability to succeed; 我们的经济是由它的力量、耐力和稳定性决定的。 由于种族、民族、性别或性取向而被边缘化的社区，那些被认为不受欢迎的人，绝大多数被认为是病态的、虚弱的、幼稚的或野蛮的、落后的或不发达的。 Although marginal lifestyles can produce disability through prolonged and routine suffering—long work hours, little rest, poor diet all contribute— but we know now that such hardship is produced as well and is a product of the institutionalized separating-out of society put into place by the Prison, the Hospital, the Insane Asylum, and by the University.
我是一名残疾教授，研究同样残疾的群体，这些群体属于所谓的不发达国家。 Many of my students are also disabled—either by a physical or mental condition or by an identity they claim. 我们一起努力在一个不是为我们设计的机构中为自己创造一个位置。 事实上，我们在其中的位置，以及我们在其中的轨迹，往往是自我禁用的。 我们的学习速度不快，我们的校园旅行速度也不快。 我们需要更多的时间来学习如何学习，完成我们进步所需要的事情，找到并请求我们所需的帮助和支持，并决定我们是否需要它。 但时间就是金钱，对残疾人来说，金钱就是债务，而债务会使人瘫痪。
On campus, and in the classroom, often in the chatter that comes before, or right after a professor’s lecture, something happens that is worthwhile. 在这里，经验被分享，想法被传播，关于残疾意味着什么，关于我们的外部生活如何影响和决定我们如何在课堂上学习材料，以及这如何有助于理解什么是不理解，什么是失败。 在这里，像其他地方一样，残疾定义了一个共同的基础，并为我们创造了一个安全的空间来讨论成功，进步和四年毕业计划的反面，没有任何错误的余地。 Our disability—thought broadly–represents for many of my students, and for me as well, a world view that incorporates second (and third) tries, repetition, circling back on new ideas to get them right–to help us understand. Disabled folk have a close connection with “not knowing”, “not understanding”, “not being able to (yet),” and with the struggles of learning that characterize a large part of our experiences in higher education, and within universities across the globe. 然而，这所大学并不是为我们设计的。 应该是这样。
作者简介
马修·爱德华兹博士。 – Associate Professor of Spanish, Associate Faculty of Latinx and Latin American Studies, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies